


Legacy

by mechanicaljewel



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Letters, Movie: Skyfall (2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 14:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1985583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mechanicaljewel/pseuds/mechanicaljewel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bond finds a note in the box with the ceramic bulldog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legacy

Bond removed the hideous ceramic piece from the box and placed it on the corner of his desk. He toyed with whether to face it towards his chair or the door. _Chase me away from behind the desk or out of the office entirely?_ He smiled to himself.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed there was something in the box that had been under the statue. He reached in and drew out a neatly folded up piece of paper. Unfolding it, he wasn't all that surprised to see M's handwriting, but the date did take him by surprise. It was the same day he captured Silva.

> _James,_
> 
> _I feel like a batty old fool for writing this, but if you are reading it, then my worst instincts were correct._
> 
> _I have always secretly agreed with you that this figurine is garish and vulgar. Much like the man who gave it to me for Christmas 1996, mere months before I had to make the hardest decision of my career up to that point and give him up to the Chinese._
> 
> _You have now seen where that has gotten us. And knowing what he was capable of even then makes me uneasy to say the least about where this will all end._
> 
> _I hope that I had the chance to tell you what happened, but suffice to say Tiago Rodrigues (as I knew him) was a brilliant agent whose service to his country was unparalleled_
> 
> _I have, in a rare maudlin mood, wondered how things would be different if he was still with us, and how you two would have gotten on. He'd probably still be turning down offers from Q branch despite being better at computers than all of them combined. Gleefully throwing himself heart and soul into the field. You would pretend not to like each other, but in the field you'd be unstoppable together. And when it really counted, you would be fiercely loyal to each other._
> 
> _I must put all of that aside now, and prepare myself to look into his eyes with no hint of remorse. Regret is unprofessional, after all._
> 
> _But we are not always in the office or the field, are we?_
> 
> _Remember to be human sometimes, James. This hideous thing would remind me of that. You owe it more than any other agent, and far more than you’ll ever know. (The Madagascar Incident alone! I almost smashed the thing then.)_
> 
> _I can’t even begin to speculate what the future holds, for you, for MI6, for Queen and Country. But come what may, I harbour some silly superstition that this trinket will help, however it can._
> 
> _Love,_   
> _Olivia_

Bond stood silently for a few moments while her last message sunk in. He then picked up the statue and brought it to his drinks cabinet. He set it in a place of honour surrounded by glasses, decanters, and the ice bucket. Then he poured one out and toasted the bulldog in memory of Olivia Mansfield, who he knew better than anyone while still knowing so little about her, and Tiago Rodrigues, who he wished he could have met.


End file.
